Unit 6: Reading Strategies - Parental Involvement Presentation

Editor's Notes

• #3: Today we are going to focus on discussing the importance of family involvement   We will be discussing specific strategies that if applied correctly can improve the school’s approach to family friendly practices   Finally we will discuss how these strategies impact our environment & how we can take steps towards improving partnerships with families in our schools.
• #4: Review the definition of Indicator 8 of Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).   Focus on the importance of involving families in the education process and strengthening partnerships between families and schools.   Every school in every state is responsible for taking positive steps to include families. The Department of Education monitors parents perception of how well schools reach out to families and how this improves services for their students.
• #5: More information is contained in the PowerPoint presentation at the end of this document*   For flourishing family-school partnerships to occur, certain condition should be met. These include: An approach that invites and expects family involvement. Positive attitudes educators hold regarding family involvement A welcoming atmosphere created by educators. Once these conditions are in place, effective family-school partnerships can take place ( actions ).
• #6: Discuss how the approach, attitude and atmosphere must be appropriate before parent friendly “action” can be taken. Conduct a discussion with the audience of suggestions of how these areas can be improved within your school environment.   This is a schematic to better understand how the 4 A’s connect
• #7: Reading Difficulties do not only affect the individual, but society as a whole. The Statistics are presented from Richek, Caldwell, Jennings, and Lerner’s book Reading Problems: Assessment and Teaching Strategies (2002).
• #8: Parents are key to the development of a child’s attitude about reading. The parent also plays a key role in highlighting the importance of reading in everyday life.
• #9: The teacher is also critical to not only lay the foundation for reading, but to connect the school to the learning that occurs in the home environment. The teacher is responsible for maintaining regular contact with the parent. Through that contact, the teacher should respect the parent’s perspective and foster the relationship for continued collaboration about interventions and support programs, which connect the boundaries of home and school.
• #10: Interventions and support programs have been found effective throughout the literature. Four selected interventions that address family/parent involvement are: 1. Dialogic Reading 2. Family Literacy Program 3. Parent Tutoring 4. Parent Encourage Pupils (PEP)
• #11: Reference DR Handout 3 and DR Step-By-Step Handout 2 The first of these interventions is Dialogic Reading first published by Whitehurst, G., Arnold, D. Epstein, J., Angell, A., Smith, M. & Fischel, J. (1994a). A picture book reading intervention in day care and home for children from low-income families. Developmental Psychology, 30, 679-689.   Dialogic Reading is an intervention to promote early literacy with a goal to make children active participants in shared book reading. Dialogic Reading is primarily done by having an adult ask questions about the books and elaborate upon the child’s responses.  
• #12: Adult Questions For Pre-Readers: Questions focus on individual pages in a book and ask the child to describe objects, actions, and events on the page For example, “What is this?”, “What color is the duck?”, “What is the duck doing?”
• #13: Adult Questions For Early Readers: Questions increasingly focus on the story as a whole or on relations between the book and the child’s life. For example, “Have you ever seen a duck swimming?” “What did it look like?”
• #14: Reference DR Handout 1 and 2 CROWD - used to help adults remember the type of question prompts they can pose to children while reading C – completion (e.g., Something went bump and that made us ___________?) R – recall (e.g., Can you remember some things that happened to Sarah when she went to school?) O – open-ended (e.g., Tell me about this page.) W – what, where, when, why (e.g., What’s this called? Where did the dog go? Why is the boy smiling?) D – distancing (Did you ever play in the snow like Andy did? What did it feel like?) CROWD Examples C-“Let’s finish this page together. Over in the meadow, in a hole in a tree, lived a mother bluebird and her little birdies _____________.” R-“What happens after the wolf climbs onto the third little pig’s roof?” O-“Tell me what’s going on in this picture.” W-“What’s this called? When would the pig use it?” D-“Have you ever made a cake? Who was it for? What did it look like?”
• #15: PEER - also used to help adults remember the interactions that occur between adults and children while reading P – prompt the child to respond to the book E – evaluate the child’s response E - expand the child’s response by repeating and adding information to it R - repeat the expanded utterance PEER Examples Adult: What is this? Child: A cat. Adult: Yes, it’s a big orange cat. Can you say that? Child: A big orange cat.
• #16: Literacy Programs
• #17: Reference FLP Handout 1 and 2 and How To Family Literacy Includes teachers and parents working together to promote the child’s literacy Goals: Enhance children’s achievement and motivation to read and write Increase parents’ and teachers’ interests and attitudes about literacy development Program created to increase awareness of parents, children and teachers concerning the role they ALL play together in the literacy development of children.
• #18: Reference Very Own Words Handout Occurs 3-5 times/week for 30-40 minutes each time Model reading activities to increase interest For example- read aloud or tell stories with props Lead discussions of readings and emphasize elements of story structure and styles of authors/illustrators Have students use/practice “Very Own Words” Use sections of Highlights for Children magazine for fun activities
• #19: Give each parent a shopping bag of materials Storyboard for storytelling, Literacy program handbook, Highlights for Children magazine
• #20: Read to and with their child Help child record “Very Own Words” and use Highlights for Children Attend literacy center time at school periodically Attend group meetings with other parents monthly Keep record of the activities they do with their child
• #21: Parent Tutoring
• #22: Reference PT Activity Parent Tutoring – an activity that takes place at home Teacher provides appropriate skill level reading materials to parent Parent is trained on the materials and how to do the PT sessions Parent implements PT and charts progress Teacher follows-up with parent Parent reports progress during teacher conference and/or during team meetings Parents usually do not have a role in out-of-class academic instruction PT gives them the chance to get involved with helping their children learn to read Increases home-school communication   Conduct frequent follow-up with parents by phone, audio checking, or in person
• #23: Train parents over several sessions: Teach parents: An oral reading and error correction procedure How to do a “parent check” (WCPM) To administer contingent positive reinforcement To use timeout for inappropriate behavior Show a demonstration video OR Demonstrate all procedures with opportunities for modeling, practice, and feedback Conduct frequent follow-up with parents by phone, audio checking, or in person
• #24: Words Correct Per Minute – WCPM Calculated by counting total # of words read in one minute and subtracting # of incorrect words Give parents reading materials from: Current classroom reading materials Materials that would be read the next year Or from a set of standard leveled reading passages Parent Tutoring should take place: 2-3 times per week during school year Daily during summer months
• #25: Reference Handouts 1-4 Find a comfortable, well-lit space Select a text that is not too easy or hard, as suggested by classroom teacher
• #26: Select appropriate reading materials Start at a specific point in a designated text Ask child to read orally and naturally Set a timer for 10 minutes
• #27: Parents only intervene if: A word is substituted A word is left out A word is added that is not in the text The child hesitates for longer than 4 seconds   Steps when correcting mistakes: Point to where mistake was Correctly state error word(s) Ask child to correctly pronounce word(s) Ask child to reread the entire sentence correctly Deliver verbal praise after sentence is read   At end of each session conduct a “Parent Check” (See PT Handout 2 for “Parent Check” form) Child reads for 1 minute from that day’s passage with no error correction Parent keeps track of mistakes and marks last word read after 1 minute Parent calculates WCPM = # of words read minus # of mistakes Chart WCPM for child on daily form (See PT Handout 3 for WCPM Chart)
• #28: Ask Parents to Share WCPM Chart so that the teacher can reward and compliment the child at school or their efforts at home Discuss New Reading Materials with the parents Always Praise Parent for Their Work
• #29: Parents Encouraging Pupils Urban children don’t achieve in reading at a comparable level to suburban children. Parents’ reinforcement of skills taught at school have a direct effect on children’s achievement. Parents from lower SES do not make as much contact with schools as middle or higher SES parents – maybe lack confidence, communication skills, or knowledge about learning processes. When school staff assist parents, their involvement in academic programs increase resulting in increased student achievement. Low SES students from inner city schools All students behind at least 2 grade levels in reading, of average intelligence or above, and served at a reading resource laboratory at school Experimental Group: 75 randomly selected students grades 3-5 Control Group: Comparable; did not receive PEP
• #30: You can help your child become a better reader by listening and helping her to do at least one of the following activities available to her in the reading lab: A. Read a book B. Reading homework C. Read a word list D. Play reading games Each activity earns 10 points
• #31: Reference Handout 3 After work is completed: Circle A, B, C or D on the calendar to show the work done by your child. If your child does more than one activity, circle each letter that applies. As a reward for doing at least one of the above activities, fill in the “Happy Face” with a pen or pencil. Please return this calendar to the lab at the end of the month.
• #32: Reference Handout 4 After the child completes the daily activity, the parent fills in the happy face on the calendar. Children return the home activity tracking calendar to school each month. The reading lab teachers keep a school activity tracking calendar at school. Points are recorded for completion of reading assignments in class and combined with points for activities earned at home.